The Claire Byrne Show
Family settles action against HSE over daughter’s death by suicide
10 Jun 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. The family of a 25-year-old woman who died by suicide have settled a High Court action brought against the HSE over her death. Maxine Maguire from Newbridge in County Kildare died in February of 2017 and her mother, Cathy, is here with me in the studio. Hello, Cathy.
Good morning, Clare.
It's lovely to have you here. I'm sorry it's under such circumstances and that we're talking about your lovely daughter, Maxine.
Chapter 2: What led to the family's High Court action against the HSE?
Will you just tell us about her, about her as a person?
Maxine was, she was a beautiful young lady. She had real beauty, not just on the outside, but she had real beauty from the inside. She was my best friend. And I, to this day, I'm still privileged to be able to say that she was my best friend. She had a heart of gold. She would do anything for anyone. She had a lovely group of friends all the same age and to this day they're so supportive to me.
They missed their dear friend very much. She She just loved her family. Family was the most important thing to Maxine. She loved travelling. I'm so lucky that she did get to travel a lot. She got to see a lot of the world in her small 25 years. She was very proud of herself for getting her degree in university.
You have the lovely graduation picture in with you today where you can see how proud she is holding up her piece of paper and I'm sure that was a lovely day for all of you was it?
It was momentous my sister and myself and my husband and her nanny she had to get a special ticket for her nanny to attend because she was in a wheelchair and we just couldn't believe because she had previously struggled with her mental health So she this was after a stint in hospital and everything. So what did she study? Theology and sociology.
And then she was doing a master's in childhood and family studies. She wanted to be a social worker to help people.
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Chapter 3: Who was Maxine Maguire and what was her impact on those around her?
Well, we go back then and talk about when the problems first started or when you noticed that all was not well. What happened and when was that?
Yeah, she was 20. She had taken a year out of college, like a lot of people did at the time, and she'd gone to Australia with a group of friends.
Was she good in her teenage years and going through secondary school?
Yeah, like she was a little bit stroppy as a teenager. Well, who isn't then? Yeah, it was kind of like normal. Yeah. Yeah, like she'd get really, really anxious coming up to exams and she might even physically get sick. But I thought they were all like that. Do you know, I'm looking back now and I see little things that maybe were a little bit more serious.
But there was nothing really out of the ordinary.
Yeah, nothing that you would say wasn't normal for a teenager, you know, under exam pressure.
Yeah.
You mentioned that she went off to Australia and when she came back then, what happened?
Yeah, she came back from Australia and nearly from the get-go, like, There was little things I noticed. She wasn't meeting up with the friends as much. Do you know, I thought after being away for a year, she'd be meeting the friends and not really leaving the house much. She loved getting dressed up and putting on a bit of makeup and heading out. That wasn't happening.
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Chapter 4: What struggles did Maxine face during her university years?
But then she got to the point where it was decided that she was OK to be signed off the system. As you say, the file kept there and so on. What happened then? How was she after that?
She was, yeah, she was, she was good. She was good. I'll say she was good. Like she started her master's in the September. And she even had tickets for an electric picnic or one of them, and she even sold them. The girls couldn't believe she wasn't going. She was like, no, I'm starting college now, back into doing masters. And she was all ready for it.
And then, like, she had the graduation was the 12th of November 2016. And the week after that was when she started reaching out for help. And with mental illness, a week can be a very long time. You can slip so far in a week. Do you know?
Chapter 5: How did Maxine's mental health issues begin to manifest?
Could you see it? Oh, yeah. Yeah. But I kept saying, no, sure, like, they'll have her in. You know, her name is on file. It should be no big deal. You know, they'll get her in. But she even made the phone call herself. And then myself and my husband, a week later, we started to panic. my husband was ringing them on a daily basis and they were like, we need a referral letter.
And she'd gotten a referral letter, but they were saying it's not strong enough. Like all they should have known, all they should have heard is her name and get her back in.
So now what I'm seeing is the link between the services and Maxine was broken, really. Yeah. And you had been told that it wouldn't be broken. Absolutely. So when she tried to get back in, the door was closed. It was closed.
It was absolutely closed. And we felt so lost, like we just felt so helpless. But then my husband, it was the 2nd of December, he finally got, he had to ring the doctors and give them a blow by blow of what the letter needed to say. And so he had the stronger referral that they were talking about. And he was on his way over and he got there and she said, we've no one here. It was early.
It was about 12 o'clock on a Friday. No psychiatrist here, Robbie. You may bring her to A&E. Over to A&E he went. And so A&E in Nace, Lakeview, the mental health hospital is connected. They're not separated, they're connected. And they were notified that Maxine was on her way over early in the day. But yet it was 1.30 in the morning by the time a psychiatrist came to see her.
She stood most of the day outside in the rain because she wouldn't go inside. My husband's sister traveled with him. I was in work and she sat inside to make sure she kept Maxine's place. So she saw the psychiatrist at 1.30 in the morning and the psychiatrist spoke to us as well. And it was about half three in the morning when we were sent home with a few sleeping tablets.
she had no file in front of her even though Maxine was in that hospital four years previous for six weeks it's a long time to spend in a hospital and then they have no information in front of you about you so like I said the link was gone oh my god it was broken so what happened then after she was sent home we went home as I said it was half three in the morning she took a tablet Went to bed.
I was up early the next morning. I had to give my younger son a lift. He was an elf in Palmerstown House. So I think that was seven o'clock in the morning. I was coming back about half seven. She was sitting at the front door. We had seats at the front door. She was having a cigarette and I said, is the tablet not working? She goes, I just have to take the second tablet.
So I got into bed with her. And I got up at about 12 o'clock and she was asleep and I left her asleep. So it was... It was the next morning. My husband brought my son... To his job. To his job. And I noticed, both myself and Maxine, we have an undirected thyroid, so we take L-troxin. And I had two little pillboxes.
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Chapter 6: What steps did the family take to seek help for Maxine?
When they got the discharge, they made a phone call and said they'd prefer to be an inpatient and they were told no. She was deemed well enough to be discharged.
So she came home then and you, I mean, you probably knew, did you, that she wasn't well enough to be at home?
We were just so afraid. Like, every night that she'd... Like, my husband slept at the end of her bed. At the end of her bed, like, do you know what I mean? Like, that's how worried we were. We were so afraid. And then, so less than 40 hours after discharge, my husband had hung his keys on her door so that we'd hear her movement, you know.
So then she made another attempt and shortly afterwards died in the burns unit?
Yeah, 39 days later she died.
So you talk about looking at the files two years later. Did it take the two years, Cathy, before you were able to do that?
No, I had only got them. It took two years to get them. You know, and there's another thing like we felt so strongly about the delays in referral and the A&E system that we went to our local representative when Maxine was in hospital just after having her liver transplant. So we spoke to Fiona Lachlan and we told her what had happened. Like, but Maxine was still alive.
But I felt the A&E system isn't fit for purpose. You shouldn't be bringing somebody in mental health stress.
there it's not the right environment there's hustle and bustle there's ambulance arriving left right and center there's a guardie arriving with people in handcuffs and and that's one side of it but the other side of it which i think is so striking is that that she was in the service yeah and you were told she was still in the service yeah but you couldn't get her the help back in that she needed like that that's the whole point isn't it
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Chapter 7: What was the outcome of Maxine's hospitalization and treatment?
And the shrapnel, everyone is hit. There's no one saved. No one got away lightly. Myself and my husband, we come from big enough families. And it has hit everybody. Nine and a half years have passed. But myself and my husband, we're still like, because of this fight, it was like the wound was never closed. You know, I think we might have got further on in our grief had we not taken this case.
But I felt... the case was important to hold them accountable so it's catch 22 really but um i don't think we'll ever be right the vision of my two sons carrying her coffin along with their cousins will never leave me the fact that we had a closed coffin that i didn't even get the chance to pick out a nice dress or do her hair do her makeup i go to funerals now and i'm jealous
When I see the person in the coffin, I'm jealous. I'm jealous of the way they look. My aunt passed away and, oh my God, she was like the nicest person ever. Her hair and makeup was done to perfection. I didn't even get that final thing to do for my daughter. Do you know, and that haunts me and will haunt me for the rest of my life.
Is the fight over for you now?
Like I'm so tired. I really am. There's not much left in me. I'm here today just to speak about the recommendations again. And like, I'm just hoping that someday they're signed into legislation. I just hope so. Like I've met Michael D. Higgins. I've been to his garden party. I sent so many different emails to whoever would listen about this story and about the recommendations.
And that's what at the end of the day, it's all about is just the recommendations. You know, she's not coming back to me.
I know. And, you know, my heart breaks for you because I appreciate what you've done. But I know sitting looking at you here that that's that's all you want. That's all anybody wants. And that's you can't have it. You know, and it's devastating, isn't it?
Yeah, 100 percent. I'll never be mother of the bride. I'll never hold any children. My husband will never walk her down the aisle. It's just, you know, she was in the middle of the two boys and they loved her so much. They're just devastated. One was 20, one was 27 at the time. And they're just like they have longer to live than me.
And they have to live without her all these years and what that entails.
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